Posts tagged Biden administration
Opinion: George F. Will: Chicagoans are getting fed up with the city’s teachers union
August 14, 2026 // At more than 50 Chicago schools, the percent of students achieving math proficiency is 0.
Editorial: Randi Weingarten’s book sleaze might mean the end of corrupt teacher-union power
July 13, 2026 // Under Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Rick Allen (R-Ga.), the committee is following up on Post reporting on dubious transactions uncovered by the Freedom Foundation that amount to hundreds of thousands of AFT dollars spent to help produce the book Of course, that’s just a fraction of how union higherups profit from members’ dues: Weingarten’s pay is now $470,000 a year, not to mention ample perks. Maybe she’s worth it — to the union itself, at least: She’s been a Democratic Party powerbroker for decades, using that influence to protect the power of the AFT and its larger ally, the National Education Association.
Federal employees face reality of Schedule Policy/Career
July 8, 2026 // Trump administration officials have said the creation of Schedule Policy/Career aims to improve employee accountability and ensure the federal workforce is carrying out the president’s policy agenda. A senior administration official last month told reporters, “As long as employees are performing their job duties in a competent, professional manner,” then reclassified federal employees “have nothing to be afraid of.”
Op-ed: To High Praise and Hallelujahs, Trump Nominates Keith Sonderling for Secretary of Labor
June 30, 2026 // As Acting Secretary, Sonderling has strongly advocated for Trump's pro-business and pro-worker agenda, touting the manufacturing jobs that have been returned to the U.S., and has worked tirelessly to beef up and expand apprenticeships through the U.S. Department of Labor for small businesses and private-sector concerns. Under Biden's DOL, apprenticeships were issued through the major labor unions like the AFL-CIO and SEIU, effectively cutting out any private sector opportunities. Sonderling has also long been a champion for defined benefit pension plan sponsors to be able to use group annuities to protect pension benefits through pension risk transfers, and to allow employers to incorporate retirement plan options like cryptocurrency assets and private credit funds. But most pivotal, Sonderling is working hand-in-hand with the Fraud Task Force to eradicate the rampant unemployment insurance fraud.
Op-ed: A GOP Gift to the Cultural Left
June 15, 2026 // We wonder if Republicans know what they’ve voted for—and not merely on wages or pensions. Unions, allied with Democrats, have long supported a progressive agenda that includes collective bargaining for abortion coverage and transgender healthcare. The model language the AFL-CIO recommends to local chapters says “all health plans offered to bargaining unit members shall cover comprehensive . . . reproductive healthcare services, including contraceptives, abortion services . . . and gender affirming care.” In 2012 the Service Employees International Union unanimously approved a resolution “calling on local unions to bargain for trans-inclusive healthcare.” The NewsGuild of New York/Communications Workers of America said in 2022 it “unequivocally supports access to abortion as a healthcare right.”
Freelance Busting: The Lady Problem
June 15, 2026 // The Legislature should support this concurrent resolution, not just because of testimony in recent months that revealed employee misclassification isn’t a big problem in the first place, but also to make clear that the state supports all of us women who own and operate New Jersey’s smallest of small businesses. We are the translators, the financial advisers, the graphic designers, the traveling nurses, the dog walkers, the wedding planners, the writers, the photographers and so many, many more types of professionals who are worthy of real protection against this relentless, remorseless freelance busting.
These Republicans keep undermining Trump. This week proves it
June 11, 2026 // Specifically, the Faster Labor Contracts Act would empower a federal agency that Trump has called to eliminate. It could then impose a collective bargaining agreement on workers if the union and employer don’t reach an agreement within three months. But the workers wouldn’t even get a vote, fundamentally gutting workplace democracy. As Trump’s administration said in 2020, “Involuntary contracts that do not work for employees or their employers could force layoffs or even bankruptcies — ultimately, harming workers.” This bill is one of the Democrats’ top priorities. It should never be a priority for any Republican. Several of these Republicans pulled a similar stunt in January, when they killed House leadership’s plan to vote on the Save Local Business Act. The bill would have prevented a heavy-handed mandate from the Obama and Biden years that put many franchises, subcontractors, and small businesses at risk of layoffs or even closure. Yet LaLota said that he and his colleagues would only support a watered-down version. Trump has proposed a regulation that’s similar in intent to the legislation that was killed, yet by refusing to support the bill, these Republicans are all but ensuring that a future Democrat president will overturn this necessary reform.
Commentary: Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Harm: The Real Cost of Union Monopoly Power
May 22, 2026 // The Mercatus paper's survey findings cut against the union narrative in ways that should matter to anyone who follows labor policy. When asked directly, workers say they prefer unions that cooperate with management over unions that are more powerful but adversarial. They prefer having multiple options for representation rather than one organization with legal monopoly control over their workplace. And union progressive political activity and strikes, the two things union leadership most reliably prioritizes, are the only factors that consistently make workers less favorable toward organized labor.
Commentary: Mamdani Misreads What Gig Workers Want
May 21, 2026 // Arranged scheduling cuts directly against what gig workers value most: flexibility. More than 60 percent cite it as the main reason they chose this work, and few are interested in traditional, prescheduled jobs. They’re also more concerned about the lack of benefits than about wage rates. These realities underscore the wrongheadedness of Mamdani’s anti-gig campaign. A better approach would preserve flexible hours while expanding access to benefits. One promising model is a portable benefits system, in which workers and companies contribute to SEP IRA–style accounts that can be used to purchase health insurance, paid leave, or retirement plans. Numerous states—red and blue alike, from Tennessee to Maryland to Pennsylvania—have enacted portable-benefits systems for gig workers in recent years.
DOL gets flexible on overtime
May 18, 2026 // The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that workers be paid time-and-a-half once a work week exceeds 40 hours. However, employers may exempt workers classified as managerial who meet a salary threshold. In 2023, The Biden administration raised the income threshold from $35,500 to $44,000, and planned to increase it again to $59,000 annually by 2025. This was intended to expand the number of people receiving overtime. The administration’s union allies and labor-sympathetic lawmakers have long argued that companies abuse the exception by designating regular employees as managerial to get out of having to pay them overtime. Raising the threshold was meant to prevent this. This one-size-fits-all approach did not necessarily benefit all workers.